I'm not as proficient as I'd like to be. For me the appeal is mostly academic, a link to the ways of the past. About 5% of my interest is practical; while the possibility is remote I could wind up in a situation where I had to improvise fire with few or no tools. Realistically in a true survival situation where fire meant the difference between life and death- and I had no lighter, matches, firesteel, etc.- I'd probably be a goner! Friction fire is challenging under the best of conditions and pretty dicey in bad weather.